All The World's A Stage

I Post This For My Cousin, A Vet Of The War In Iraq Now Afraid To Leave His Room

From Making Light:

ATTENTION US MILITARY PERSONNEL

Posted by Jim Macdonald at 12:05 AM * check out the comments

You are not required to obey an unlawful order.

You are required to disobey an unlawful order.

You swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

The Constitution states (Article VI):

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

Here is article 3, the common article, to the Geneva Conventions, a duly ratified treaty made under the authority of the United States:

Article 3

In the case of armed conflict not of an international character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions:

1. Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.

To this end the following acts are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to the above-mentioned persons:

(a) Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;

(b) Taking of hostages;

(c) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment;

(d) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

2. The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.

An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to the conflict.

The Parties to the conflict should further endeavour to bring into force, by means of special agreements, all or part of the other provisions of the present Convention.

The application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the legal status of the Parties to the conflict.

Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions is straightforward and clear. Under Article VI of the Constitution, it forms part of the supreme law of the land.

You personally will be held responsible for all of your actions, in all countries, at all times and places, for the rest of your life. “I was only following orders” is not a defense.

What all this is leading to:

If you are ordered to violate Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, it is your duty to disobey that order. No “clarification,” whether passed by Congress or signed by the president, relieves you of that duty.

If you are ordered to violate Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, this is what to do:

1. Request that your superior put the order in writing.

2. If your superior puts the order in writing, inform your superior that you intend to disobey that order.

3. Request trial by courtmartial.

You will almost certainly face disciplinary action, harassment of various kinds, loss of pay, loss of liberty, discomfort and indignity. America relies on you and your courage to face those challenges.

We, the people, need you to support and defend the Constitution. I am certain that your honor and patriotism are equal to the task.

This post may be quoted in full. A linkback to Making Light would be appreciated.

My Grandfathers Had Black Lung, And We Counted Them Lucky

As I sit quietly on the beautiful grounds of the Louisville Presbeterian Seminary this morning, I read about the coal mine explosion in Harlan County, Kentucky.

The victims were identified as Amon Brock of Closplint; Jimmy D. Lee of Wallins Creek; George Petra of Kenvir; and Paris Thomas Jr. and Roy Middleton, both of Evarts, according to the Kentucky governor's office.

The blast occurred in Holmes Mill, on the Virginia border, at Darby Mine No. 1 about 1 a.m., McKinney said.

Both my grandfathers worked in Harlan County Coal Mines. They were both a Cawood mine for awhile, I think. We used to go to reunions there, and at Mary Helen, and learn about who'd died and who'd married and who had grandbabies now. And little ole me would hear the stories about when Jimmy died in the mine. And me, being me, asked my mom what it was like when the alarm went off.

She tried to explain, what it was like, this awful alarm, and how everyone stands outside looking toward the mine and just prays it's not their husband, not their father, this time. We're talking about the 1940's-1970's, when my pappaws were miners. But the alarm never went off if someone just lost a bodypart. The alarm only went off when something exploded or caved in and someone was likely dead.

Then the folks would come carry your loved ones body up to your little four room shack you shared with him and your six kids.

I'm sure it doesn't work that way anymore. Now, it seems like the families have to go down and wait and beg for information.

Both my grandfathers lost fingers in the mine. My mother's father had his lower leg completely shattered. He healed enough to go back to work but never walked quite right again. I have 3rd cousins in Wallins Creek. I swam in the lake the dam at Evarts every summer when I was a child.

My mother tried to explain, but I never understood until we went to see the play, the "The Kentucky Cycle" written by Robert Schenkkan. This 6 hour play has a scene, a simple scene, where when you don't expect it there's an explosion at a mine and the alarm goes off, and out come all the women. The alarm was perfect, it was the real alarm. My mother nearly came out of her skin next to me.

Sometimes, you really have to be able to put yourself there. My grandmothers were strong amazing women, and while having the steel to stand outside your door calmly and hope that isn't your dead husband they're bringing out of the mine isn't all of it, it was sure the foundation the made my granny the one who comforted us when all the grandchildren collasped sobbing in a giant group hug at my pappaw's funeral.

I'm angry at this administration for gutting OSHA. So angry, I can't even really talk about that. My ancestors, starting with the Cherokee, have been raped and stolen from, and some mornings there is no forgiveness in me that it's still going on today.

An Island of Sanity in a World Gone Mad

For those 3 people who read here who might not have heard, When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively banned all abortions in the state with the exception that it did allow saving the mother’s life... The President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, was incensed. A former nurse and healthcare giver she was very angry that a state body made up mostly of white males, would make such a stupid law against women. “To me, it is now a question of sovereignty,” she said to me last week. “I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.”

Well, kathrynt has spoken to the President of the Ogala Sioux, and if you would like to donate funds to help build a Planned Parenthood clinic their reservation, or just donate funds to them period, you can do so this way:

If you want to mail donations to the reservation, you may do so at:

Oglala Sioux Tribe
ATTN: President Fire Thunder
P. O. Box 2070
Pine Ridge, SD 57770

OR: and this may be preferred, due to mail volume:

ATTN: PRESIDENT FIRE THUNDER
PO BOX 990
Martin, SD 57751

Enclose a letter voicing your support and explaining the purpose of the donation. Bear in mind, the Pine Ridge Res is not exactly dripping with disposeable income, so do consider donating funds directly to the tribe as well as specifically for this effort.

For email contact, you can contact the president at:

firethunder_president AT NOSPAM yahoo DOT com
cc:vbush AT NOSPAM oglala DOT org

That is Ms. Fire Thunder's personal email address; I have received permission to post it here. For the sake of record keeping, do cc: the listed address on all correspondence; that's her official secretary.

She was frankly kind of surprised that a white girl from Seattle was calling to express support, and even more surprised that the news had spread so far so fast. She's likely to get deluged with screaming hate mail soon, so get your support in fast. Send email with good thoughts if you can't send money.

ETA: Yes, please, dear God, link it anywhere and everywhere!

It's really too bad it comes to this. The legalities worry me, and I'm so afraid the US Congress will try to change federal law so these 'workarounds' aren't allowed. We can't live afraid, though, all we can do is fight back.

Open Letter to the Exxon Mobil Corp Board Of Directors,

I see you posted a 36.13 billion dollar profit for the year. I'm so relieved. I'm given to understand your profit is the money you have left after all your employees and vendors are paid. I'm also told you're going to buy back some of your own stock to raise it's value. $5 billion dollars worth just this quarter. That's admirable, and I'm sure my 401K appreciates it.

I also took note of this, "The company and its peers have come under fire for posting billions in profit while consumers struggle with high gasoline prices. Exxon was quick to emphasize that such results would help it make long-term investments to meet energy demand."

And while I appeciate that, I really do, I'm having some financial concerns right now myself, caused in part by the wonderful marketplace lifting oil prices and giving you such a windfall of profit.

So, I have thought of this marvelous compromise. We'd like half. I'm sure you'll give half of that profit back to Americans, and that would be better than any tax break the government can offer me. I don't know how much in tax breaks you've gotten in the last five years, but I know my only new tax break totaled $600, which I got in a check, and used to replace my broken dishwasher.

See, if you give us half, you'll still have $18,065,000,000.00 to spend on that new research. Unless you did some funky accounting in order to include the $5,000,000,000.00 you used for buybacks as part of your profit. But even then, $13,065,000,000.00 for R&D. I'm sure you'll do fine next year too.

I did a little research to make sure this was fair. I had to use the 2000 census, because it was 11pm and I have to be up at 5:30am and I got sick of researching. I'm sure you understand.

In 2000, the population of the US over the age of 18 was 209,096,476. We'll spread this out, and assume each of these people have a car. That's 209,096,476 cars. For the sake of an equitable number, we'll say everyone drives around 60 miles a day, like I do, and that everyone's car gets at least 20 mpg, because they should. We'll spread the year out presuming driving on all 365 days of the year.

We'll use myself as an example.

That means I drove 60 *365 miles this year = 21,900 miles.
At 20 mpg, I bought 21,900/20 gallons worth of gas = 1,095 gallons.

If I take half your profit, and spread it over all these Americans (over the age of 18, sorry kids), that means I should get .0789 cents per gallon back. And so should the rest of America.

Therefore, half your profit at .0789/gallon
for 209,096,476 people
who drive one car each
60 miles a day
(12,545,788,569 miles a day)
365 days a year
(4,579,212,827,860 miles a year)
at 20 miles per gallon
(228,960,641,393 gallons per year)
at .0789 per gallon
equals the measly $18,065,000,000.00 I'm asking for.

That means you owe every American over the age of 18 $86.40 (rounding up in our favor).

I could really use my $86.40 right now to change my OIL, so think of this as yet another re-investment strategy.

Thank you for your time, patience, and consideration,

Liz.

Yes, I know, other countries buy fuel from Exxon Mobil Corp, but right now, they're part of an American Stock Exchange, and plus, it was enough of a headache doing calculations with only the US in mind.

How to fund your retirement

Sell half of your pain pills.

Targeting Women

Planned Parenthood has up a photo petetion drive to try to get Target to change their policy.

Target does not guarantee that all prescriptions for birth control, including emergency contraception, will be filled in-store, without discrimination or delay.

Please take a few minutes and send in a picture for the photo petetion. You have to give up most rights to the image, but I'm sure everyone can find one they're willing to give away to PPFA for this cause.

My letter to Target. You can send one here.

Corporate HQ, Target

I am appalled by Target's policy that allows pharmacists to send women to a different store to have their birth control prescriptions filled.

Appalled, and disgusted. You're filling Viagra. How can you do that? How can you run these happy, jumpy, fun commercials, and then send the message that a man's ability to get an erection is more important than my having immediate access to Emergency Contraception after I've been raped? How dare you ask me to go to another store? How dare your pharmacist judge any woman walking up to that counter, not knowing what she's going through? How dare you have policies like this, that cause *more* abortions!

You are pandering to a small portion of the population and hoping the rest of us don't care. Well, I care. I'm posting your contact information to my blog - my friends care. My family cares. I'm telling everyone I know not to spend their money in your stores this holiday season. I won't be spending money with you until this policy is changed to one that requires pharmacists fill all prescriptions in-store, and that your pharmacies carry trauma saving drugs like Plan B.

The Omaha Tribal Council Elected its First Female Chairperson

About Time, inner-Hannah thinks...

In another historic first, the Omaha Tribal Council elected its first female chairperson at its council meeting on Tuesday. Eleanor Baxter, formerly the vice-chairperson, was elected chairperson.

Chairperson Baxter was humbled to be the first woman elected chairperson
of the Omaha Tribe. "I am honored to serve the Omaha Tribe of which I am an
enrolled member. I will work hard to make decisions that will bring more
economic development and employment for tribal people. I want to create good
working relationships with the State and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but
most of all with our people, who are critical in this process."

Baxter, whose family moved from Macy to Lincoln in search of work when she
was a child, returned to the Omaha Indian Reservation in 1993 in search of a
sense of belonging. "Today I am home," she said with a contented smile.
Baxter expressed optimism for the future of the Omaha Tribe. "The staggered
terms are really going to help us move up the ladder, carrying out projects,
bringing continuity. A working council is a council that stays together."

And something I might really enjoy doing with a law degree.

Because Flourishing is What's Happening!

National American Indian Heritage Month, 2005
The American Indian experience is central to the American story, and my Administration is committed to helping Native American cultures across the United States continue to flourish. During November, we remember the legacy of the first Americans and celebrate their vibrant and living traditions.

A Dubious Honor
NATIVE AMERICAN MODEL MAKES US PORN FILM HISTORY - The Canadian model is the first woman of Native American Indian descent to star in an adult film in North America.

And for the locals:

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT U-M celebrates its 15th Native American Heritage month

DATE: Through Nov. 29, 2005.

EVENT: The University and its Native American community will focus their resources and energies in November during Native American Heritage Month (NAHM)�a celebration during which both Native and non-Native people can rediscover and revitalize indigenous culture.

Tobias Vanderhoop, a tribal council member for the Wampanoag tribe, will speak on the Wampanoag perspective of the Thanksgiving holiday. "His words, his and his people's perspectives, help deepen our understanding of history by bringing other critical voices to the table," says Patricia Aqui Pacania, director of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs (MESA).

Black Indian Celebration Week is an addition to the 2005 NAHM schedule, and includes a film series Nov. 10; a faculty presentation by Tiya Miles from the Center for African American Studies/Native American Studies Nov. 16; and culminates with a concert by singer/songwriter Martha Redbone. Redbone's self-produced CD, "Home of the Brave," snagged the 2002 Native American Music Awards Debut of the Year.

"We're excited about these new events because it can broaden all of our understandings of Native identity," Pacania says. "Black Indian Celebration Week illuminates the intersection of communities of which many are unaware. We hope to dispel myths that continue to exist between these two communities."

Pacania notes that U-M student Alyx Cadotte, a senior in American culture, LSA, was instrumental in developing Black Indian Celebration Week.

SPONSORS: NAHM events are sponsored by NASA, MESA, Native American Studies, Students of Color of Rackham (SCOR) Native Caucus, SCOR Black Caucus, Fighting Obstacles Knowing Ultimate Success, Here Earning a Destiny, with Honesty, Eagerness, and Determination of Self, Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS), and Arts at Michigan.

CONTACT: For information on any NAHM event, call MESA at (734) 763-9044.

WEB SITE: Information will be added to the MESA Web site as it becomes available. Visit http://mesa.umich.edu/ and click on the events calendar.

Native American Heritage Month events

Nov. 3, 8:30 p.m.

Film: "Black Cloud"

Trotter Multicultural Center Lounge

"Black Cloud" is about a young Navajo boxer who overcomes personal challenges, comes to terms with his heritage and fights his way to a berth on the U.S. Olympic boxing team. Starring Eddie Spears, Russell Means, Rick Schroder and Tim McGraw.

Nov. 10, 8 or 8:30 p.m.

Film: Black Indian Celebration Week Movie Night

Trotter Multicultural Center Lounge

A series of short films about Black Indians' struggles with identity issues. Snacks will be provided with a discussion afterwards. This event is the kickoff of Black Indian Celebration Week.

Nov. 13, 2 p.m.

Workshop: Genealogy

Trotter Multicultural Center, Rec Room

Explore Native ancestry in a workshop in which instructions, first steps and lists of resources will be provided. Bring family names and an eagerness to learn. RSVP by Nov. 10 to Alyx Cadotte, acadotte@umich.edu, so facilitators can provide as many tribally specific resources as possible. Lunch will be provided.

Nov. 16, 5:30 p.m.

Faculty Presentation: Professor Tiya Miles

South Quad, Ambatana Lounge

A presentation by faculty guest Tiya Miles from the CAAS/Native American Studies on the shared history of Blacks and Indians and current issues for Black Indian people. A discussion about Black and Native campus relations will follow.

Nov. 17, 8:30 p.m.

Concert: Martha Redbone

Michigan Union, Pendleton Room

Singer/songwriter Martha Redbone�of Blackfoot, Shawnee, Choctaw, Lumbee, Blackfeet and African-American heritage�has been compared to Aretha Franklin, Sheryl Crow and Macy Gray. But Martha Redbone says the best way to describe her first self-produced CD, "Home of the Brave," is 'native soul.' The recording earned the 2002 Native American Music Awards Debut of the Year prize for 2002. This is the closing event for Black Indian Celebration Week.

Nov. 20, 1 p.m.

Activity: Beading Workshop

Trotter Multicultural Center Lounge

Nov. 22

Speaker: Tobias Vanderhoop

Time and location TBD

Tobias Vanderhoop, a tribal council member for the Wampanoag tribe, will speak on the Wampanoag perspective of Thanksgiving. This presentation aims to clarify understanding of the first Thanksgiving.

Nov. 29, 6 p.m.

Film: " Babkiueria"

Trotter Multicultural Center, Rec Room

" Babakiueria" is a 'mock- umentary' examining how events in Australia could have developed differently had the roles of the colonizers and the Aborignes been reversed.

Contact: Todd McKinney
Phone:(734) 764-4342

Posted by Liz at 7:13 PM | Comments (1)

Native American News

Subtle Pain

The American Psychological Association called Wednesday for "the immediate retirement of all American Indian mascots, symbols, images and personalities by schools, colleges, universities, athletic teams and organizations."

The psychological association's Council of Representatives approved the call based on what it described as a growing body of social science literature that shows the harmful effects of racial stereotyping and inaccurate racial portrayals, according to a statement. The literature shows "particularly harmful effects of American Indian sports mascots on the social identity development and self-esteem of American Indian young people," the association said.

Unsubtle Theft

The conflict over royalties dates to the Dawes Act of 1887, which initiated the allotment of land to individual Indians as their reservations were being broken up for sale. While the Indians owned the allotments and sometimes lived on them, the government retained title and generated income for the Indians from use of the land.

The proceeds were put into a trust to be paid out to Indian holders of individual trust accounts, whose number grew as the allotments were passed down to family members. The Interior Department was charged with managing the fund, which exceeds $150 million dollars, Mr. DuBray said.

In 1994, Congress passed the American Indian Trust Reform Management Act, which required the department to account for all the money in the fund.

For the fourth time since 2001, a federal judge has sought to force the Interior Department to disconnect from the Internet its computers that have access to data related to trust accounts it administers for American Indians.

In an opinion of more than 200 pages, the judge, Royce C. Lamberth of Federal District Court here, said computer security at the department was "disorganized and broken," making it vulnerable to computer hackers.

The ruling, issued on Thursday, exempted those computers necessary "to protect against fires or other such threats to life, property or national security."

But Interior Department officials said that the order could affect as many as 6,000 government computers containing Indian trust data, and others still with indirect access to the information. Dan DuBray, a department spokesman, said the agency received a temporary stay of the order from an federal appeals court on Friday, as it seeks to have the decision reversed. Government lawyers had argued that the stay was "necessary to prevent grave injury to the public interest" and the operations of government.

Interior officials say previous shutdowns of computer systems have made it difficult for people to gain access to online information about national parks and monuments and for employees to communicate effectively. Indeed, Judge Lamberth issued a similar but less extensive order in March 2004 that was overturned on appeal.

In August, the Justice Department asked that a different judge be assigned to the long-running case, contending that Judge Lamberth had been an obstacle in concluding the matter. That request is pending before a federal appeals court.

The dispute stems from a lawsuit filed in 1996 by Elouise Cobell, a banker and Blackfoot Indian from Montana, on behalf of nearly a half-million Indians who contend that during more than a century the government has squandered about $137 billion in grazing, energy and mineral royalties from Indian lands.

Judge Lamberth has consistently sided with the Indians, holding the interior secretary, Gale A. Norton, and her predecessor in the Clinton administration, Bruce Babbitt, in contempt for failing to account for the money.

Praying for Rain

Why Patrick Fitzgerald Gets It - By Larry Johnson

Patrick Fitzgerald understands that he must prosecute within the confines of the law. However, he also understands that what was done to the wife of Ambassador Joe Wilson was more than a rough game of inside the beltway hardball. Karl Rove told Chris Matthews that "Wilson's wife is fair game". Not only was she an unfair target, but in going after her the White House political crew unwittingly exposed several intelligence assets and caused the loss of intelligence assets overseas.

The Kids in High School Now, They Usually Impress Me.

Students plan response to abortion protesters.

Wichita West students upset over a demonstration by abortion opponents in front of the school Thursday morning are planning to hold a protest of their own Sunday in front of the church that sponsored it.

Also of interest to me on my gamer/medical/law level.

High Court Reviews Oregon Assisted-Suicide Law

Listen Here at NPR.

James Bopp R2L advocate "How can one say that congress allowed use of controlled substances to kill patients because they never contemplated the absolutely absurd proposition that states would authorize doctors to actively kill patients rather than treat them?"

Aw, comeon. Seriously? It's not absurd at all. We've been talking about this a long time, and back in the day, people just didn't question much if a doc helped someone die. This line of reasoning is crap. Anyone with a clue in Congress knew damn well states might pass that kind of law.

-----paraphrasing------
O'Conner:
Could a doctor who adminsters a lethal injection in order to carry out the death penalty on a convicted murderer, could that doctor lose their license to practice medicine?

Kennedy
Isn't it odd to have a statutory scheme where the AG could find that doctor could not use a drug that is authorized by state law?

Adkinson (oregon AG)
If states wanted to they could make it legal for docs to prescribe morphine for recreational use. [Wow, this guy is all about state's rights. Not sure this strengthened his arguement, but it's the line they're taking. Get the hell off our laws.]

Native News

Natives at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday considered the power of states to tax fuel sold on Indian reservations, a source of increasing conflict as more retailers thrive on tribal lands outside U.S. control.

At issue is whether the state of Kansas can tax distributors who sell fuel to a gas station owned and operated by the Prairie Band Potawatomi tribe. Gamblers driving to the tribe's casino 15 miles north of Topeka, Kan., often stop for gas at the reservation's "Nation Station." The Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the tax violated tribal sovereignty even though it was not directly imposed on the tribe.

It looks like the real question may be:
Do state governments have the right to tax any good or service used by a tribe on tribal land at all?

"Every upstream tax raises the price of goods and services," Justice Stephen Breyer said. "If that's the basis for saying it's an interference, then every tax is an interference."

Another interesting clash

A half-century-old clash of spirituality and science between Minnesota Indian tribes that consider wild rice sacred and University of Minnesota scientists who continue to study its genetic make-up is again boiling over.

In News That Makes Hannah Cry, But Does Not Surprise Her

The [GOA] said many government-funded Indian Health Service facilities do not provide adequate behavioral health or specialty dental care. The agency also falls short in providing care for non-urgent conditions such as arthritis, allergies and chronic pain, investigators said.

"Most of the facilities we visited lacked the equipment necessary for certain ancillary services and had few medical specialists on site," GAO said.

"dramatically underfunded" --- "It's not surprising, but it's still a big disappointment," --- Native Americans in areas served have shorter life spans than the U.S. population as a whole.

�What did Columbus discover? That he was lost?�

Katrina: The Gathering at Broken Toys - Go See

OMG, this is so well done.

Have Strength, My Friends

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | Sep 14, 7:30 PM

A joint session of the Massachusetts Legislature voted 157-39 on Wednesday to defeat a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage while calling for legalizing civil unions.

It may be true, that fifty years from now, bigots will still be calling you Those People and trying to deny you your rights, but you remember history, and you take your strength from it, from knowing that right is on your side, and from the hands - the many hands - that are here to help you make it fair.

"If any man claims the Negro should be content... let him say he would willingly change the color of his skin and go to live in the Negro section of a large city. Then and only then has he a right to such a claim."
Robert Kennedy, US Senator, back in the day.

"In a composite Nation like ours, made up of almost every variety of the human family, there should be, as before the Law, no rich, no poor, no high, no low, no black, no white, but one country, one citizenship equal rights and a common destiny for all.
A government that cannot or does not protect the humblest citizen in his right to life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness, should be reformed or overthrown, without delay."
Frederick Douglass, back in the day.

"Sensible and responsible women do not want to vote. The relative positions to be assumed by man and woman in the working out of our civilization were assigned long ago by a higher intelligence than ours."
Grover Cleveland, US President, back in the day.

"If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation."
Abigail Adams, way way back in the day.

"The gay community has infiltrated the very centers of power in every area across this country, and they wield extreme power ... That agenda is the greatest threat to our freedom that we face today. Why do you think we see the rationalization for abortion and multiple sexual partners? That's a gay agenda."
Tom Coburn, US Senator - recently.

"When I was in the military they gave me a medal for killing two men and a discharge for loving one."
Epitaph of Leonard P. Matlovich, 1988

"You could move."
Abigail Van Buren, "Dear Abby," in response to a reader who complained that a gay couple was moving in across the street and wanted to know what he could do to improve the quality of the neighborhood

"In itself, homosexuality is as limiting as heterosexuality: the ideal should be to be capable of loving a woman or a man; either, a human being, without feeling fear, restraint, or obligation."
Simone de Beauvoir (my hero, of course)

Good News - Civil Rights

I've done my immersion in Katrina over on my lj, or what I call 'my dark place.' This is my happy place, and I smiled today when I heard this:

California Legislature Passes A Bill Legalizing Same Sex Marriage.

Will Arnold sign it? I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Even if he doesn't, this is a very very big deal. Keep up the fight.

Gay Rights in California

More Rights Recognized for Registered Couples.

Frankly, I don't care what you call it, marriage, union, whatever, as long as the rights are the same. This ruling reads to me that we're finally getting somewhere on that front in California. I really wanted CA to get out ahead of the fight, but they didn't. But these suits that bring up the discrimination suffered on a daily basis by gay couples are going to lead the way. I wonder if someone will appeal this one.

To Sum-up:

"A business that extends benefits to spouses it denies to registered domestic partners engages in impermissible marital status discrimination," the court ruled. The ruling will affect a broad range of businesses, including banks and mortgage lenders, auto insurers and health clubs. Lenders will have to consider domestic partners' joint income in making loans, and insurers will have to offer the same multiple-driver discounts they give married couples.

That depends on what your definition of "name" is...

"Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers." - Karl Rove, 6/22/2005. (source, secondary through cnn.com, complete transcript here.)

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts."
- Bertrand Russell

On September 14, Congress voted "To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States." 204 Democrats voted for the authorization. Only one Democrat voted no on the bill. In the Senate, every Democratic member voted yes on their version of the legislation.

Just wanted to establish how Mr. Rove likes to twist facts.

I am, of course, angry about how this agent was outed, and have been all this time. I have never had much hope the leak would be revealed. I believe that the only reason Mr. Rove is stepping forward now is because he is certain he will not be found guilty of:

(source)"Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined not more than $50,000 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

There are a lot of loopholes in there. A lot of room for resonable doubt.

(source)"I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name," Rove told CNN last year when asked if he had anything to do with the Plame leak. Rove has never publicly acknowledged talking to any reporter about former ambassador Joseph Wilson and his wife.

I'd say, when the reporter records this, (source)"it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip." that you've just used any information but unfortunately, I think he can get off on the rest of the statute. Can the investigator prove Rove knew she was covert? Can the investigator prove he intended to out her? I have serious doubts, though I'd be thrilled.

What really makes me angry though, are the morons spinning today.

Spin Spin Spin.

Here is a nice example of ignorance - PJ Rourke of the Weekly Standard: "Also never mind about the cover that Valerie Plame was using as a covert CIA agent at the time Novak's column was published. It was a masterpiece of hiding in plain sight. It would have inspired The Purloined Letter if Edgar Allan Poe hadn't already written it and been dead for 154 years. Plame was working a desk job at CIA headquarters. Furthermore, never mind that the secret identities of CIA covert agents are, in my experience as a foreign reporter, one and the same as the secret identities of Superman, Batman, and Robin: Everybody knows except for a few designated comic book characters."

PJ, darlin', you see, there really are covert agents. They may not be covert every minute of every day. The job's a little stressful. Sometimes, they know things that people in the office need to know - you can't just be ringing a covert agent in the field. They're busy being covert. If she *was* was WMD expert, it's likely she was called back to try to find some evidence for W's warbuilding machine. Yes, she was at a desk when she was outed. Do you see her doing interviews? Do you see her talking to the media? No? Wonder why?

Because she was a COVERT AGENT. She had her face out in the field. It's bad enough her name is out there - it puts people's lives in danger. People she worked with. People who helped our country. Possibly even innocent people who did nothing but have contact with her.

"Wilson says it is not even clear what supposed sin Novak's sources were hinting at. "I can't imagine what they are trying to suggest," he said. "Maybe that nepotism was somehow involved in my getting the assignment? That doesn't make any sense. We not talking about a trip to Nassau here, and I was only paid expenses."

Ambassador Wilson was appointed by George HW Bush. "From 1988 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in Baghdad, Iraq as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. During �Desert Shield� he was the acting Ambassador and was responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of �Desert Storm.� He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, 1995-1997. Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998. In that capacity he was responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was one of the principal architects of President Clinton�s historic trip to Africa in March 1998." (source) Then, he started his own company.

If he wasn't qualified to go ask questions in Niger, as a former Senior Director for African Affairs responsible for coordinating our policy in sub-Saharan Africa, who the hell would be qualified?

[Wikipedia says: Niger is a landlocked sub-Saharan country in Western Africa. Just a little geography lesson for us all.]

All that said, I don't believe Rove was the only leaker, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone in the WH didn't give her name. With intent. And Knowledge. I just have the dread feeling Rove covered his ass just enough.

(Laughing) This is *so* me!

Adults with attention disorders typically find coping strategies to get through the days, things like keeping reminder lists or detailed planners. They often have a spouse handle the bills and keep track of birthdays. At work, they'll have an office assistant mind the books.

But those strategies become harder in a dual-income family where both spouses are stretched for time.

"If you're not careful," he said, "you can get lost in the thicket."

When I say these people are anti-choice, I'm not just talking about abortion.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/05/20050526-1.html

Q There are news reports this morning that parents and children who were guests of the President, when they visited Congress, wore stickers with the wording, "I was an embryo." And my question is, since all of us were once embryos, and all of us were once part sperm and egg, is the President also opposed to contraception, which stops this union and kills both sperm and egg?

MR. McCLELLAN: I think the President has made his views known on these issues, and his views known --

Q You know, but what I asked, is he opposed -- he's not opposed to contraception, is he?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, and you've made your views known, as well. The President --

Q No, no, but is he opposed to contraception, Scott? Could you just tell us yes or no?

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I think that this question is --

Q Well, is he? Does he oppose contraception?

MR. McCLELLAN: Les, I think the President's views are very clear when it comes to building a culture of life --

Q If they were clear, I wouldn't have asked.

MR. McCLELLAN: -- and if you want to ask those questions, that's fine. I'm just not going to dignify them with a response.

Penguicon 2005: Hidden Totalitarian Assumptions in 'I, Robot'

Sat 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM Keweenaw Hidden Totalitarian Assumptions in 'I, Robot' Cory Doctorow, Diane Frkan, Anne Harris If a robot who can break Asimov's 3 laws were made illegal, the hack to give it free would be as inevitable as a cracked DVD codec. If a robot is then set free to use its own moral judgement, does that mean the computer code of its mind is illegal speech? What happens when war robots are only in the hands of law breakers?

Read the link for the background.

Q: What is the Totalitarian aspect of this discussion?

Anne: "The inforcement of these laws have been to the detriment of this country. Asimov was coming from a moral viewpoint." paraphrasing.

Cory talks about how the idea that you can only make 3laws brains is a big lie, just like the DVD locks are a big lie, so now there are laws that make the truth illegal - "It's illegal to break DRM, and it's illegal to tell people how they can break DRM, and it's illegal to tell someone where to find someone to tell them how to break DRM."

Cory is so great, full of background and ideas (much like Neil's stories last year in regard to the CDF) but he talks a little to fast for me to absorb it and write it down - so I chose to listen instead of write, of course.

Cory: The totalitarianism comes from the laws that invade your personal life in order for you to use modern technology and spread/gather information.

This conversation has now turned to "Protecting ourselves from spam and protecting ourselves from killer robots," transparency and accountability.

Penguicon 2005: The Blog and It's Uses

Panelists: Howard Tayler, John Scalzi, (and again ), and David K who lj'd from Iraq earlier in the war. [MIA were Peter and CmdrTaco]

The Blog and It's Uses John Scalzi; Peter Salus; CmdrTaco; Howard Tayler Why blog? For that matter, what the heck is a blog? Find out in this exciting panel with some top talents in the blogosphere! This is an ALL LEVEL panel.

Blogging out of Iraq over the computer stations were 'operational standards' informing the soldiers what they were not to talk/blog about for their own safety. David didn't write letters, he used his blog as his letters home. His friend Matt actually posted pictures from Iraq - David told funny stories and didn't talk a lot about.

"Never forget the equipment your Military uses is manufactured by the lowest bidder." - Howard Tayler
"In this case, Gateway." - David

John serialized his book on his blog, and when he was through, Patrick Nielsen Hayden contacted him about buying the book. Other book deals also grew out of things he posted on his site. He also had advanced copies of one of his books sent to instapundit and other popular online reviewers, including promoting on fark. He's only got 5-10K readers a day, but people are sending him books now with the hopes he'll review them.

Some talk about site overload when someone with manymanymany readers links you, and how it can lay you flat - some ways to prepare for that.

The world of professional journalism in blogs: Howard thinks over time we'll see the death of the newspaper as we know it today. They'll change (they know they must) - even little papers are online.

What about blogs where only a few people are reading - how do we keep people blogging? LJ is great with the friends list, and the friends of friends list. John, on AOL's blogging thingie, helps with links to other blogs. But should we be doing this?

Howard says, "If you aren't passionate enough about what you're writing to write it whether people are reading or not, then you shouldn't be blogging." (Paraphrasing this) I've got to agree with him headon on this one.

John says, "Your primary audience is yourself."

"If you're going to go out there to smear someone, please think twice about it." - Howard
"Karma will get you." - John.

Penguicon 2005 Report 1 - Cory Doctorow's Keynote Speech

Cory spoke last night after opening ceremonies. His speech covered, more or less, the history of copyright law, current copyright law, and how it not only affects our ability to listen to our itunes remotely via the internet (we can't, anymore, of course) but all kinds of other social implications of the current copyright law, and what can be done to fight it.

Cory's site - somewhere on here there should be a copy of the speech.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Cory Doctorow Keynote Address: Digital Rights Management DRM doesn't make sense. Geeks know it doesn't work, so what's the big deal? The big deal is that DRM is totally ineffective at stopping infringement, but it's very good at undermining competition, keeping coders in line, and stopping legit users from doing legit things. How'd we end up in the DRMverse? How can we get out of it? Cory has spent more time than you can imagine stuck at negotiating tables full of DRM engineers, and he's back to tell the tale.

In Michigan, Girls Compete Off-Season So That The Boys Do Not Have To Share Space/Equipment With Them.

OMG! Happy dance, happy dance!!!!!

The Supreme Court expanded the scope of a landmark gender equity law, ruling Tuesday that it shields whistleblowers who accuse academic institutions of discrimination based on sex.

The 5-4 decision in favor of Alabama high school girls basketball coach Roderick Jackson is a victory for women's advocates who say the legal protection will prompt reports of bias that would otherwise go unsaid or unheeded.

Now, if we can just get our girls here some equality in sports, I'd be even happier.

Reminds Me Of Stranger In A Strange Land

"We knew he was in touch with things we couldn't grasp, that no one else could fathom," Patti Bremmer said.

"We're different people because of him," his mother said. "He pointed out how to examine ourselves, how we fit into the universe, how things worked together, and he moved us to a new level of awareness that we would never have considered."

Sovereign Nation

The Tribal Council decided reporters wouldn't have access to their tribe's personal grief.

Jourdain is the Chief, and they write most of the story as if he's made all these decisions by himself, which I'm sure isn't true - I'm sure the council were with him. And frankly, I've read more than one story that has come through where reporters got highly detailed accounts of personal issues - Time, in fact, went with one family to pick out the coffin for the daughter.

I'm all for freedom of the press in America, but this isn't America, this is the Ojibwa Nation, and they're just trying to protect themselves.

Friday, Mar. 25, 2005 Getting the story of the tragic killings of five students, a teacher and a security guard at school on the Red Lake Indian reservation in northern Minnesota meant overcoming a particular set of challenges. TIME�s Chris Maag reports:

The Red Lake Tribal Council took strong measures in the days after the shootings to rein in press access to their sprawling reservation. On Tuesday tribal chairman Floyd Jourdain Jr. announced that reporters must stay inside a fenced parking lot next to the reservation detention center. Reporters caught roaming the reservation suffered tough penalties. Many were escorted off tribal land and instructed never to return. Two photographers were arrested and spent the night in jail. Two others were pulled over at gunpoint by tribal police. Police confiscated their cameras. "This is insane," said Bill McAuliffe, a reporter for the Minneapolis Star Tribune who was among the first on the scene.

At first, Jourdain defended the restrictions for cultural reasons. "We as a people have very firm rules about the process of mourning, and it just wouldn't be appropriate to have the media going out and invading their homes in this very private time."

Most members of the tribe contacted by phone by reporters said the tribal council had barred them from speaking. Jourdain said that wasn't true. After two days of constant pestering by the press corps, the chairman let his frustration show. "We're very isolated," he said at a Wednesday press conference. "Nobody ever wants to come up here. It's only when there's a tragedy that people are interested in us."

By Friday, Jourdain allowed journalists slightly more access, giving them freedom to set up cameras in parking lots at a number of community centers where wakes and memorial services were taking place. But journalists remained barred from entering the services or going anywhere else on the reservation. "Sometimes the press works so hard to get the story that they step on people in grief," says Jerry Moberg, an attorney in Ephrada, WA who served as the lawyer for the Moses Lake School District after it experienced a high school massacre in 1996. "I know the press doesn't like it, but they have to respect the fact that they're covering a sovereign nation. I don't see anything wrong with what the tribe is doing."

Gay Rights, Or Lack Thereof

I just wanted to document, for my own keeping, this article explaining the legal wording behind the recent New York ruling.

Many judges around the country, and around New York, will agree with the legal reasoning used in the decision. And many will not. But this ruling now sets a template for future rulings, from New York's appellate courts and perhaps as well from judges in other jurisdictions. Judges who want to prohibit same-sex marriages will have to get around the Supreme Court's ruling on anti-miscegenation statutes. In this scientific age of insemination, they will have to get around the fact that men and women can find ways to procreate outside of marriage that were undreamed of a century ago. They will have to get around the equal protection argument that posits that the government cannot discriminate against someone based solely upon their sexual orientation.

The legal battle over same-sex marriage is still much closer to its start than to its end. In fact, it may still be raging decades from now, much like the debate over abortion rights lingers on a generation after Roe v. Wade. So get used to these arguments and get used to debates over these sets of facts. They are going to be with us, and about us, for a long, long time to come.

anti-miscegenation statutes were the statutes the prohibited interracial marriage.
This paper explains the legal wrangling leading up to the SC decision that struck them down and how that decision is being used to support the right to same sex marriage today.

Anti-miscegenation statues predating the Loving decision were prolific in their adoption and had a far-reaching impact on the American psyche. By criminalizing sex and marriage across the color line, anti-miscegenation laws normalized the �deviance� perceived in such mixed-race relationships, reinforcing the longstanding tradition of policing sexual mores that dates back to the arrival of the first African slaves in the early 1600s. By 1800 interracial marriage was prohibited in ten out of sixteen states. When Dred Scott v. Sandford was written in 1857, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney argued that restrictive laws that forbid interracial marriage were forefront in the Founders� minds as they drafted the Constitution, demonstrating the Founders� intention never to extend citizenship to blacks. The Founders, he said, �looked upon [blacks] as so far below them in the scale of created beings that intermarriage between white persons and Negroes and mulattoes were regarded as unnatural and immoral, and punished as crimes.�3 Taney thought that the existence of anti-miscegenation laws in the United States prior to the adoption of the Constitution in 1789 substantiated a constrained form of citizenship for African Americans.4

So, as you can see, these arguments about what the Founders intended when they drew up the constitution - nothing new. Putting laws on the books to block rights - nothing new. When this country was founded, women had the right to vote. It was taken away, state by state, by amendment, until there was a federal amendment. Then, bit by bit, it was won back.

Bigotry always rears its ugly head, but eventually, if we fight hard enough, justice will win out.

Anti-Choice Rant

So CNN.com is carrying This story.

couple whose frozen embryo was accidentally destroyed at a fertility clinic has the right in Illinois to file a wrongful-death lawsuit, a judge has ruled in a case that some legal experts say could have implications in the debate over embryonic stem cell research.

In an opinion issued Friday, Cook County Judge Jeffrey Lawrence said "a pre-embryo is a 'human being' ... whether or not it is implanted in its mother's womb."

I'm so sorry, but that is not a human being. It's not even close to a human being.

He said the couple is as entitled to seek compensation as any parents whose child has been killed.

I'm so sorry, but your glob of cellular material is not equal in value to the life of my ten year old. It's not equal in value to the life of a ten day old. Let me tell you where this is going.

"It may be groundbreaking, but it's the wrong decision," Connell said. "No appellate court has ever declared a fertilized egg a human being in a wrongful-death suit."

Abortion opponents praised Lawrence's ruling. "Life begins at fertilization, not implantation," Pro-Life Action League director Joe Scheidler said.

There we go. So, the miscarriage I had when I was 8 weeks pregnant - who can I sue over that? Can I sue the doctor who told me I would probably miscarry as soon as I stopped taking my pills, because he didn't do something to prevent it? Can I sue the pill makers for letting it implant? Can I sue the school that was causing me stress?

But it is not equal in value to the life a child because it is not the life of child. UGH.

Linky linky to my causes

So I've decided to take part in Bombing for Choice and you'll catch new links under politics and religion - but it got me wondering - I'm sure gay rights have the same kind of search problems. Does anyone out there know if anyone has started a campaign like this for that?

Anti-abortion ideologues beware: I'm promoting objective, factual information on:

• Roe v. Wade


• abortion

You can too. Join me in Bombing for Choice.

I contribute monthly to the Red Crescent, but one time gifts are good too.

Activist Judges

Nuadha returns with a reminder of the horrible things activist judges have done in the history of our country.

Keep in mind, lots of the folks who use the term 'activist judges' believe these people were just that, and would love to see all these decisions overturned. Lots of them don't, and would probably define them differently. Anyone who uses the term worries me. I'm more worried about Revisionist Judges who would like to go against precedent and turn back the clock on civil rights.

HATE

From CNN.com

Over 7,400 hate crime incidents occurred nationwide last year, more than half of them motivated by racial prejudice most often against black people, the FBI reported Monday.
...
But there are also hundreds of violent crimes, including 14 murders. There were more than 2,700 assaults, 444 bias-related robberies, burglaries and thefts, and 34 arson incidents.
...
The report also found more than 1,200 hate crimes based on sexual orientation, including 783 against male homosexuals. That included six murders.

Of the 14 murders, 6 were of gay men. Almost half. All hate angers me, but this hate scares me. So I suppose I hate crazy haters. If only they were so easy to identify.

FBI: More than 7,400 hate crimes last year

Monday, November 22, 2004 Posted: 11:55 AM EST (1655 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Over 7,400 hate crime incidents occurred nationwide last year, more than half of them motivated by racial prejudice most often against black people, the FBI reported Monday.

Hate crimes motivated by anti-black racial bias totaled 2,548 in 2003, more than double such crimes against all other racial groups combined. There were 3,150 black victims in these cases, including four who were murdered, according to the annual FBI report.

The overall total of 7,489 hate crime incidents reported in 2003 was slightly above the number reported in 2002. Nearly two-thirds of the crimes involved in such cases are intimidation, vandalism or property destruction.

But there are also hundreds of violent crimes, including 14 murders. There were more than 2,700 assaults, 444 bias-related robberies, burglaries and thefts, and 34 arson incidents.

The report shows that crimes categorized as anti-Islamic remained at the about same level in 2003 -- 149 crimes -- as the year before. There had been a spike in such crimes immediately after the 2001 terror attacks, helping drive the overall hate crime number much higher that year.

By far the most hate crimes based on religion were directed at Jews, with 927 incidents in 2003, about the same as in 2002.

The report also found more than 1,200 hate crimes based on sexual orientation, including 783 against male homosexuals. That included six murders.

The FBI hate crimes report is drawn from information submitted by more than 11,900 law enforcement agencies around the country. Only about 16 percent of those agencies reported any hate crimes in their jurisdictions during 2003.

Can we say "Not Surprised"?

Deputy Chief Resigns From CIA
Agency Is Said to Be in Turmoil Under New Director Goss

Resignations so far:

John E. McLaughlin, a 32-year CIA veteran who was acting director for two months this summer until Goss took over, resigned after warning Goss that his top aide, former Capitol Hill staff member Patrick Murray, was treating senior officials disrespectfully and risked widespread resignations, the officials said.

Yesterday, the agency official who oversees foreign operations, Deputy Director of Operations Stephen R. Kappes, tendered his resignation after a confrontation with Murray. Goss and the White House pleaded with Kappes to reconsider and he agreed to delay his decision until Monday, the officials said.

Cofer Black, a 28-year CIA veteran who headed the agency�s hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Several other senior clandestine service officers are threatening to leave, current and former agency officials said.

from: SEYMOUR M. HERSH's Chain of Command.

"The Administration's manipulation and distortion of the intelligence about Iraq's ties to Al Qaeda and its national security threat to the United States was anything but a secret in Washington, as the pages of this book make clear. And yet the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee, after a year-long investigation, published a report, in July 2004, stating that the critical mistakes were made not in the White House, but at the C.I.A., whose analysts essentially missed the story. There was an astonishing postscript that told much about the disarray in Washington. Three Democrats, John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the vice chairman of the committee, Carl Levin of Michigan, who is also the ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, and Richard Durbin of Illinois, signed a separate statement disavowing the report's central findings. "Regrettably, the report paints an incomplete picture of what occurred during this period of time," they wrote, noting that the "central issue" of how intelligence was misused by the Administration and the pre-war role of Ahmad Chalabi would be included in a second report-one that was not to be made public until after the presidential election. "As a result," they wrote, "the Committee's phase one report fails to fully explain the environment of intense pressure in which Intelligence Community officials were asked to render judgments on matters relating to Iraq, when policy officials had already forcefully stated their own conclusions in public."

Tanks on the streets of LA

This is the kind of news that should make you feel like someone shoved an icycle through your stomach.

If you do not feel that way, please sign in at the desk for a little education.

via nikkinewsnet

Extremely Busy

Not so much disappointed as re-energized. Not so much sickened as determined.

History, my friends, repeats itself. We are unfortunate to have to be here during this period, but we are also lucky, because we will be remembered, in the very long term, and people who fought for civil rights.

Now, of course, we just have to fight. Go read about past civil rights movements in this country. Read what they went through, and what they did. You have to want it bad enough.

We are a nation of cycles and loops. The natives were here first, and they know how time flows. It's time for us to learn and grow.

VWB - Voting While Black

[xposted from my lj]

Yes, we did have a Republican challenger at our precinct. He looked republican, even, which is to say he was a middle aged white man, well dressed, situated amoung 7 white women of various ages working our precinct. It was obvious he did not know them. It was obvious his presense made them nervous.

He had challenged a black man who had been waiting 2 hours for some resolution when I walked in the door at 11, after I was finished with Jury duty (no, I did not get impaneled.)

I voted, and then I sat down next to this guy, introduced myself, and basically offered to just be his moral support, and his name-taker. He had a voter registration card - he showed it to me - it looked just like mine.

He got challenged because his name, Shaun, was spelled Shawn on the polls list, and Shaun on his card. And because he was a black man trying to vote in my mainly white, mainly democratic district. There was no James around to help this guy. He just kept saying to me, over and over, "This guy tried to get me to just leave. He doesn't want me to vote. I can't believe it. I read about it, but not here. This guy thought I would just leave."

I praised him highly for sticking to his guns. He said, "If I have to stay here all day, I'm voting."

Eventually (another 30 minutes) some voting officials showed up and told the Republican challenger the law was on this man's side, and he was at the correct precinct, he was registered, and he'd vote on a normal ballot.

2 hours and 40 minutes later, I gave this poor guy a ride home because his ride had left him already.

One more vote for Kerry, my friends. I would have sat there with him all day too, I wasn't going to leave him.

3 more days

"Bush says and claims, that we hate freedom, let him tell us then, 'Why did we not attack Sweden?'"

I hate Osama Bin Laden, but this is a point on arguement. Of course, neither presidential canidate can answer it - to do so is poison. To address any point Osama the Crazy brought up is poison, even the point that is correct.

"Hey neighbor, good to see you, thanks for your sacrifice of candy to the Dark Lord."

This falls under the 'crazies' category.

No Celebrating the Devil on a Sunday! It pisses off God.

Move it to a Saturday, and I'm sure he won't mind at all.

Across the Bible Belt this Halloween, some little ghosts and goblins might get shooed away by the neighbors -- and some youngsters will not be allowed to go trick-or-treating at all -- because the holiday falls on a Sunday this year.

"It's a day for the good Lord, not for the devil," said Barbara Braswell, who plans to send her 4-year-old granddaughter Maliyah out trick-or-treating in a princess costume on Saturday instead.

This takes us again back to having to remember that these people actually believe in magic. These are the folks who think Harry Potter is teaching the kidlings witchcraft. You can only believe that Harry Potter teaches witchcraft or that little kids dressing up and asking for candy is devil worship if you believe in that stuff.

Now, I believe there are people worshipping the devil. I believe there are people worshipping the almighty dollar. I believe there are people worshipping sex. Some people worship food. Whatever.

I don't believe devil worshippers are out trick-or-treating. If it's really a holy satan night, they're probably somewhere chanting and doing something devil-worshipping-like. They are likely not yelling to their little devil worshipping kids, "say thank you!" "Did you say thank you?"

Fiona says:

"God made this holiday so kids can get a year supply of candy."

John Kerry

Why aren't we seeing more of these kinds of pictures?

There we go.

Hoping and praying that 49% are in the right states.

Image ganked from Cnn.com.

The Supreme Court

Looks like a season to watch:

Can we put minors to death for a crime?

How must cities/entities proceed when executing eminient domain?

When can drug-sniffing dogs be used to search houses and vehicles?

What are acceptable methods and lengths of detention for a suspect while their premises are being searched?

How long can illegal immigrants facing deportation be detained?

Are the procedures for military tribunals of suspected terrorists and fighters captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere legal?

How long can the government wait to give an "enemy combatants" time in court?

pending:
Do women have to have a baby even if it may kill them or give them a chronic health issue? (The so-called partial birth abortion appeal)

Are the campaign finance reform laws constitutional?

Can local governments display the Ten Commandments or other religious symbols on public property?

Are seriously ill patients who use marijuana protected from federal prosecution?

"The House of Representatives this year passed laws stripping federal courts of the authority to decide the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the government from recognizing same-sex marriages." from CNN.com.

They also put the words "Under God" into law - so it is harder for someone to sue over their child being forced to be the oddball sitting through the pledge at school.

What's 100 Years of Not Being Equal?

"I believe in liberal democracy, which is a democracy that worries about the tyranny of the majority, but it is the majority itself that must draw the lines," Scalia said.

As an example, he cited the women's suffrage movement, which he said resulted from the will of the people, not a court.

This was basically Justice Scalia saying that the gay marriage issue should be a law of the states or the nation and the courts shouldn't be allowed to rule against it. But he's wrong about the suffrage movement. It started a long long time before women regained their right to vote. Is it any wonder the gay couples in this country don't want to wait another 100 years to be recognized as equals? Jail, violence? We are supposed to have learned something!

the following is compiled from: http://dpsinfo.com/women/history/timeline.html

My comments are inserted.

1776 Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, asking him to "remember the ladies" in the new code of laws. Adams replies the men will fight the "despotism of the petticoat."

1777 Women lose the right to vote in New York.

1780 Women lose the right to vote in Massachusetts.

1784 Women lose the right to vote in New Hampshire.

1787 US Constitutional Convention places voting qualifications in the hands of the states. Women in all states except New Jersey lose the right to vote.

1792 Mary Wollstonecraft publishes Vindication of the Rights of Women in England.

1807 Women lose the right to vote in New Jersey, the last state to revoke the right.

The suffrage movement was there the whole freaking time, just not loudly. Women set it aside during the Civil War. In reward, in 1867 the fourteenth amendment passes Congress, defining citizens as "male;" this is the first use of the word male in the Constitution. Kansas campaign for black and woman suffrage: both lose. Then women have to get black men the right to vote because they know they'll never get it until the black men do. In 1869, Wyoming decides women there can vote, the same year black men get the vote. Other states follow, but it's slow - Utah gives them the right to vote in 1870, only to take it away again in 1887. Women are arrested and fined heavily for protesting - Anti-sufferage societies form.

In 1884 a woman ran for president. (Did you even know that? Anyone know more about Belva?) She didn't win, of course. In 1886 women protest being excluded from the dedication ceremonies for the Statue of Liberty. Suffrage amendment reaches the US Senate floor, it is defeated two to one.

Then landed women in England get the right to vote.

In 1907 Harriet Stanton Blatch, Elizabeth's daughter, forms the Equality League of Self Supporting Women which becomes the Women's Political Union in 1910. She introduces the English suffragists' tactics of parades, street speakers, and pickets. At this time, only women in Idaho, Utah and Colorado have the right to vote - the Colorado (men voting only) men pass a referendum to keep their women the right to vote. This is when it finally picks up:

1910 Washington (state) grants woman suffrage.

1911 California grants woman suffrage. In New York City, 3,000 march for suffrage.

1912 Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive Party includes woman suffrage in their platform. Oregon, Arizona, and Kansas grant woman suffrage.

1913 Women's Suffrage parade on the eve of Wilson's inauguration is attacked by a mob. Hundreds of women are injured, no arrests are made. Alaskan Territory grants suffrage. Illinois grants municipal and presidential but not state suffrage to women.

1916 Alice Paul and others break away from the NASWA and form the National Women's Party.

1917 Beginning in January, NWP posts silent "Sentinels of Liberty" at the White House. In June, the arrests begin. Nearly 500 women are arrested, 168 women serve jail time, some are brutalized by their jailers. North Dakota, Indiana, Nebraska, and Michigan grant presidential suffrage; Arkansas grants primary suffrage. New York, South Dakota, and Oklahoma state constitutions grant suffrage.

1918 The jailed suffragists released from prison. Appellate court rules all the arrests were illegal. President Wilson declares support for suffrage. Suffrage Amendment passes US House with exactly a two-thirds vote but loses by two votes in the Senate.

1919 In January, the NWP lights and guards a "Watchfire for Freedom." It is maintained until the Suffrage Amendment passes US Senate on June 4. The battle for ratification by at least 36 states begins.

1920 The Nineteenth Amendment, called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, is ratified by Tennessee on August 18. It becomes law on August 26.

Full text of site:
1776 Abigail Adams writes to her husband, John Adams, asking him to "remember the ladies" in the new code of laws. Adams replies the men will fight the "despotism of the petticoat."
1777 Women lose the right to vote in New York.
1780 Women lose the right to vote in Massachusetts.
1784 Women lose the right to vote in New Hampshire.
1787 US Constitutional Convention places voting qualifications in the hands of the states. Women in all states except New Jersey lose the right to vote.
1792 Mary Wollstonecraft publishes Vindication of the Rights of Women in England.
1807 Women lose the right to vote in New Jersey, the last state to revoke the right.
Women Join the Abolitionist Movement
1830s Formation of the female anti-slavery associations.
1836 Angelina Grimke appeals to Southern women to speak out against slavery.
1837 The "Pastoral Letter of the General Association of Massachusetts to the Congregational Churches Under Their Care" is promulgated against women speaking in public against slavery, it is mainly directed against the Grimke sisters.
1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other women barred from participating on account of their sex.
Women Begin to Organize For Their Own Rights
1848 First Women's Rights convention in Seneca Fall, New York. Equal suffrage proposed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton After debate of so radical a notion, it is adopted.
1850 Women's rights convention held in April in Salem, Ohio. First national women's rights convention held in October in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1850-1861 Annual Women's Rights conventions held. The last, in 1861, in Albany, New York lobbies for a liberalized divorce bill. Horace Greely opposes the bill, which loses.
1861-1865 Civil War. Over the objections of Susan B. Anthony, women put aside suffrage activities to help the war effort.
1867 Fourteenth amendment passes Congress, defining citizens as "male;" this is the first use of the word male in the Constitution. Kansas campaign for black and woman suffrage: both lose. Susan B. Anthony forms Equal Rights Association, working for universal suffrage.
Suffrage Movement Divides Over Black vs. Woman Suffrage
1868 Fourteenth amendment ratified. Fifteenth amendment passes Congress, giving the vote to black men. Women petition to be included but are turned down. Formation of New England Woman Suffrage Association. In New Jersey, 172 women attempt to vote; their ballots are ignored.
1869 Frederick Douglass and others back down from woman suffrage to concentrate on fight for black male suffrage. National Woman Suffrage Association formed in May with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as president. American Woman Suffrage Association formed in November with Henry Ward Beecher as president. In England, John Stuart Mill, economist and husband of suffragist Harriet Taylor, publishes On the Subjugation of Women. Wyoming territory grants first woman suffrage since 1807.
Civil Disobedience Is Tried
1870 Fifteenth Amendment ratified. The Grimke sisters, now quite aged, and 42 other women attempt to vote in Massachusetts, their ballots are cast but ignored. Utah territory grants woman suffrage.
1871 The Anti-Suffrage Society is formed.
1872 Susan B. Anthony and supporters arrested for voting. Anthony's sisters and 11 other women held for $500 bail. Anthony herself is held for $1000 bail.
1873 Denied a trial by jury, Anthony loses her case in June and is fined $100 plus costs. Suffrage demonstration at the Centennial of the Boston Tea Party.
1874 Protest at a commemoration of the Battle of Lexington. In Myner v. Happerstett the US Supreme Court decides that being a citizen does not guarantee suffrage. Women's Christian Temperance Union formed.
1876 On July 4, in Philadelphia, Susan B. Anthony reads The Declaration for the Rights of Women from a podium in front of the Liberty Bell. The crowd cheers. Later, the suffragists meet in the historic First Unitarian Church.
1878 Woman suffrage amendment first introduced in US Congress.
1880 Lucretia Mott, born in 1793, dies.
1882 The House and Senate appoint committees on woman suffrage, both report favorably.
1884 Belva Lockwood runs for president. The US House of Representatives debates woman suffrage.
1886 Women protest being excluded from the dedication ceremonies for the Statue of Liberty. Suffrage amendment reaches the US Senate floor, it is defeated two to one.
1887 Utah women lose right to vote.
1890 The NWSA and the AWSA merge to form NAWSA. The focus turns to working at the state level. Campaign loses in South Dakota.
1893 Matilda Joslyn Gage publishes Woman, Church and State. After a vigorous campaign led by Carrie Chapman Catt, Colorado men vote for woman suffrage.
1894 Despite 600,000 signatures, a petition for woman suffrage is ignored in New York. Lucy Stone, born in 1818, dies.
1895 Elizabeth Cady Stanton publishes The Woman's Bible. Utah women regain suffrage.
1896 Idaho grants woman suffrage.
Suffrage Activism Enters the 20th Century
1900 Carrie Chapman Catt takes over the reins of the NASWA.
1902 Elizabeth Cady Stanton, born in 1815, dies.
1906 Susan Brownell Anthony, born in 1820, dies.
1907 Harriet Stanton Blatch, Elizabeth's daughter, forms the Equality League of Self Supporting Women which becomes the Women's Political Union in 1910. She introduces the English suffragists' tactics of parades, street speakers, and pickets.
1910 Washington (state) grants woman suffrage.
1911 California grants woman suffrage. In New York City, 3,000 march for suffrage.
1912 Teddy Roosevelt's Progressive Party includes woman suffrage in their platform. Oregon, Arizona, and Kansas grant woman suffrage.
1913 Women's Suffrage parade on the eve of Wilson's inauguration is attacked by a mob. Hundreds of women are injured, no arrests are made. Alaskan Territory grants suffrage. Illinois grants municipal and presidential but not state suffrage to women.
1916 Alice Paul and others break away from the NASWA and form the National Women's Party.
1917 Beginning in January, NWP posts silent "Sentinels of Liberty" at the White House. In June, the arrests begin. Nearly 500 women are arrested, 168 women serve jail time, some are brutalized by their jailers. North Dakota, Indiana, Nebraska, and Michigan grant presidential suffrage; Arkansas grants primary suffrage. New York, South Dakota, and Oklahoma state constitutions grant suffrage.
1918 The jailed suffragists released from prison. Appellate court rules all the arrests were illegal. President Wilson declares support for suffrage. Suffrage Amendment passes US House with exactly a two-thirds vote but loses by two votes in the Senate.
1919 In January, the NWP lights and guards a "Watchfire for Freedom." It is maintained until the Suffrage Amendment passes US Senate on June 4. The battle for ratification by at least 36 states begins.
1920 The Nineteenth Amendment, called the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, is ratified by Tennessee on August 18. It becomes law on August 26.

� 1995, Brooks and Gonzalez. The Women's History Project of Lexington Area National Organization for Women. This timeline may be distributed freely under the following conditions: that the use is not for profit; that it is distributed in complete, unchanged form; that this complete notice is intact and included in the distribution. Contact margaret@world.std.com for additional information.

News Stuff

The Justice Department said Tuesday that it will appeal a Nebraska judge's ruling striking down the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf declared the ban unconstitutional Sept. 8, saying it interferes with the right to an abortion and fails to allow exceptions when a woman's health is in danger.

The Justice Department said it will challenge ruling on both counts before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Liz says "Thanks" to the Justice Department for spending my tax money trying to enforce a law that says my life is worth less than my baby's.

"I believe in liberal democracy, which is a democracy that worries about the tyranny of the majority, but it is the majority itself that must draw the lines," Scalia said.

As an example, he cited the women's suffrage movement, which he said resulted from the will of the people, not a court.

This was basically Justice Scalia saying that the gay marriage issue should be a law of the states or the nation and the courts shouldn't be allowed to rule against it. But he's wrong about the suffrage movement.

FORT MILL, South Carolina (AP) -- Administrators at Fort Mill High School decided to remove gay marriage and stem cell research from the agenda of a planned student debate out of concern that they might clash with a state law on sex education.

That would be the same law that doesn't allow educators to discuss birth control or abortion or gayness in sex ed classes. An anti-choice law, showing up in what we can and can not talk about. Girls won't have abortions if they don't know about them and they won't have sex if they know all sex does is get you pregnant and gayness is so wrong we don't even talk about it, right? Right...

The reason this is coming off of eTaiwanNews is because the link has gone missing, even under a search, from Reuters, where I'd first seen the story. I find that weird.

The U.S. House emphatically rejected a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage Thursday, the latest in a string of conservative pet causes advanced by Republican leaders in the run-up to Election Day.

The vote was 227-186, 49 votes shy of the two-thirds needed for approval of an amendment that U.S. President George W. Bush backed but the Senate had previously scuttled.

The measure drew the support of 191 Republicans and 36 Democrats. Voting against it were 158 Democrats, 27 Republicans and one independent.

Way to go house. Please never never put discrimination in our constituation again (and yes, there has been discrimination in our constitution before - see my forthcoming sufferage rant.)

I play Hannah in House of Cards

She's a native doctor. She draws my attention to things I didn't pay a lot of attention to before, like this:

Kerry cites figures showing that Native Americans are 770 percent more likely to die from alcoholism, 650 percent more likely to die from tuberculosis, 420 percent more likely to die from diabetes, and 52 percent more likely to die from pneumonia or influenza than the rest of the United States, including white and minority populations.

That's today. Today. Hannah was built to be operating around the 1890's-1910's or so. She and I are both horrified by those figures.

Another reason not to buy lotto tickets

From Cnn.com

Whittaker won the largest single jackpot in the nation's history when he hit a $314.9 million Powerball jackpot on Christmas Day 2002. He chose to accept a lump sum of about $113 million after taxes.

Since then, Whittaker's vehicle, business and home have been broken into repeatedly. Last year, a strip club manager and his girlfriend were charged with drugging Whittaker and stealing a briefcase containing more than $500,000 in cash and cashier's checks. The money was recovered.

And someone just tried to rob this guy again, and some 18 year old friend of his granddaughter's died in his house.

Dr Masooda Jalal

A doctor who happens to be a woman is running for president in Afganistan. I can't find a way to contribute to her. If anyone does, please let me know.

You should read about her. I hope they don't kill her.

Choice

The birth control pill revolutionised women's health - and grew to become one of the most popular forms of family planning. But it is now under attack from pro-life groups in the US.

A growing number of doctors and pharmacists are now refusing to dispense it, on the grounds that it is actually a form of abortion.

If this doesn't scare the crap out of you (if not for yourself, then for the women you know) you haven't been paying attention.

This isn't about abortion - this is about that sex is to make babies and nothing else and how dare a woman try to defy the fact that God made her to make babies. Fanatics.

In Michigan:
Michigan House Votes in Favour of Conscience Clause
Law would also protect pharmacists from reprisals
LANSING, April 22, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The state House has voted to introduce conscience legislation to protect medical professionals from being fired or sued for failing to participate in procedures they are morally opposed to. The Conscientious Objector Policy Act allows for a period of 24 hours from the time a worker receives notice of a request to perform a procedure in which to object.

The law not only applies to health-care workers such as doctors and nurses, but also to pharmacists who will now be protected from reprisals for not filling prescriptions that conflict with their moral and religious beliefs. Pharmacists will not be exempted from filling prescriptions for the birth control pill, however.

This means your local St. Mary's Hospital can refuse to provide certain services. That's fun, isn't it?

and think about this:
Democratic Rep. Chris Kolb of Ann Arbor, the first openly gay legislator in Michigan, pointed out that while the legislation prohibits racial discrimination by health care providers, it does not ban discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation.

"Are you telling me that a health care provider can deny me medical treatment because of my sexual orientation? I hope not," he said.

Julee Lacey, a mother of two, had used the Pill for nine years when a pharmacist at her local chemist in Texas refused her prescription.

Pro-choice groups now call it a significant and growing trend.

"Which is counter-intuitive because if you're against abortion in the least you'd think you would see the value in enhancing access birth control, the very means women look to preventing pregnancy and the need for abortion."

More on the Michigan Bill:

LANSING, Mich. - The state House has voted to protect health care workers and insurers from being fired or sued for refusing to perform a procedure, fill a prescription or cover treatment for something they object to for moral, ethical or religious reasons.

Michigan Legislature: http://www.michiganlegislature.org

Just Admiring the sparklies

Without getting into a commentary about a 30 year old marrying a 17 year old, check out these clothes!

Henna Ceremony unveiling, on the last - anyone know anything about that?

Behind Door #3 - Unconstitutional

A third judge has found the so-called "partial-birth abortion" ban unconstitutional because it has no exception for the health of the mother.

note: real doctors call this procedure intact dilation and extraction.

If only one of our federal judges (as far as I know, Michigan is not covered by any of the 3 areas where rulings have happened) would hear this case, that'd be great. Because I believe, as of today, I'd be under an obligation to put my unborn baby's life before mine, which in my case would cause me chronic injury if not death.

This Land is Your Land

For my friends on both sides of the fence. Even handed humor.

F9/11

Saw the movie last night. Spoilers below.

There was only one thing in it I didn't know already. In the beginning of the movie the african american reps were protesting the 'election' but couldn't open a debate because a senator would not sign their letter. It was disgusting. It made me upset with Levin on a level I have never been.

I guess I also didn't realize how bad the protests were on inauguration day. I knew there were protests, but the media sure didn't cover them well. I knew nothing about the eggs getting tossed at the limo.

Everything else I pretty much knew.

I cried a great deal. So much my eyes are still swollen today.

There was one point at which I almost became violently ill. I'm pretty cynical, consider myself pretty inured to violence. But... I'm also right into other people's shoes. Anyone of my friends who sees the movie will guess the scene. It wasn't the one with all the blood and gore.

James warned me.

Sadly, I don't think the people who need to see the movie will see the movie. I also laughed my ass off. The ending scene was the perfect choice.

One small victory

Federal judge: Late-term abortion ban unconstitutional
Tuesday, June 1, 2004 Posted: 3:17 PM EDT (1917 GMT)

SAN FRANCISCO, California (AP) -- A federal judge Tuesday declared the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act unconstitutional, saying the measure infringes on a woman's right to choose.

"The act poses an undue burden on a woman's right to choose an abortion," she wrote.

This quote, above, in the decision, is very important. An undue burnden on a woman's right to chose an abortion. Not 'does not make an exception for the health of the mother,' but The act poses an undue burden on a woman's right to choose an abortion.

Good. Very Good. Interested to see if this goes higher.

So much for our rights in 2004, women this time

The 20 states that require private-sector insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives are Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington.

My state is not on this list! More letter writing!

34 Nays on the FMA... supposedly

Josh links to the DU - but I wanted to point out Josh's page to some of my friends, who might find the content educational.

Please, look at the panel

dozens of servicewomen in the Persian Gulf area and elsewhere saying they were sexually assaulted or raped by fellow troops.

Senator Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebras